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Community means caring: caring for people. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says: He who loves community destroys community he who loves the brethren builds community. A community is not an abstract ideal.

Jean Vanier

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Jean Vanier
Age: 90 †
Born: 1928
Born: September 10
Died: 2019
Died: May 7
Naval Officer
Philosopher
Theologian
University Teacher
Writer
Genève
Community
Builds
Means
Destroys
Mean
Ideal
People
Caring
Abstract
Ideals
Dietrich
Loves
Bonhoeffer
Says
Brethren

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There is nothing stronger than a heart which loves and is freely given.
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Community begins in mystery and ends in administration. Leaders move away from people and into paper.
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Stop looking for peace. Give yourselves where you are. Stop looking at yourselves, look instead at your brothers and sisters in need. Ask how you can better love your brothers and sisters. Then you will find peace.
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All of us have a secret desire to be seen as saints, heroes, martyrs. We are afraid to be children, to be ourselves.
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Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness
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Every act of violence is also a message that needs to be understood. (23-24)
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The strong need the weak as much as the weak need the strong
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Life is a succession of crises and moments when we have to rediscover who we are and what we really want.
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A tension or difficulty can signal the approach of a new grace of God. But it has to be looked at wisely and humanly.
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Wisdom is something that comes, little by little, through a lot of listening.
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'Going home' is a journey to the heart of who we are, a place where we can be ourselves and welcome the reality of our beauty and our pain. From this acceptance of ourselves, we can accept others as they are and we can see our common humanity.
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Look at your own poverty welcome it cherish it don't be afraid share your death because thus you will share your love and your life
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We work for peace every time we exercise authority with wisdom and authentic love.
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I believe every act of violence is also a message that needs to be understood. Violence should not be answered just by greater violence but by real understanding. We must ask: 'Where is the violence coming from? What is its meaning?
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In the end, the most important thing is not to do things for people who are poor and in distress, but to enter into relationship with them, to be with them and help them find confidence in themselves and discover their own gifts.
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We can be seduced...by powerful political groups that promise more wealth and lower taxes. Those with power can use clever, psychological tricks and play upon our weaknesses and brokenness in order to attract us to their way of thinking. We can be manipulated into illusion.
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In any case, community is not about perfect people. It is about people who are bonded to each other, each of whom is a mixture of good and bad, darkness and light, love and hate.
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Those we most often exclude from the normal life of society, people with disabilities, have profound lessons to teach us
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If we love (the poor) people, we want to identify with them and share with them.
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Each person is sacred, no matter what his or her culture, religion, handicap, or fragility. Each person is created in God’s image each one has a heart, a capacity to love and to be loved.
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